


Perfect

by CelestialHeavens1



Series: Who Knew [4]
Category: Supernatural, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angels, Character Death, Doppelganger, Doppelganger's Blood, F/M, Gen, Heaven, Human, Hunter - Freeform, Hybrid - Freeform, Mystic Falls, Psychic, Sisters, Superhuman, The Original Family, Visions, Werewolf, Who Knew Verse, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-11-19 05:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialHeavens1/pseuds/CelestialHeavens1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She is less human than a werewolf and if anyone could go screwing up everyone's plans, it was her. Isobelle might not be her sister, but she is herself... and that in itself was an impressive thing to be. Slight crossover with Supernatural.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue- Elena

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my OCs.

Sawdust and stones crashing together filled the air, along with the concrete. Thirteen years. It had been thirteen years since I had last stepped foot into Mystic Falls. And, just like last time, Klaus and Ashley are by my side. Well, not literally by my side. Ashley was in our temporary house with Danny and their children. Despite the little amount of time she had seen her husband, they still managed to raise an eleven-year-old son, which she named Grayson John, for my father's, saying she wouldn't have her best friend if it weren't for them, along with a nine year old Daniella Grace, whom everyone knew as Dana.

Rebekah and Elijah had been undaggered by Stefan. Well, Elijah had been anyways. Stefan had figured that Elijah's desire for revenge would be great enough. However, Elijah saw a daggered Rebekah and so he undaggered Rebekah. Rebekah saw their mother, alive and well. Klaus finally admitted he didn't kill her… well he did, but he didn't. They joined us shortly after that in our quest to restore the balance to the world.

The Original hybrid stood beside me. When we broke up thirteen years ago, we pretty much called our relationship quits. Every so often, we'd revive it for a few days or so. I loved him, but I wasn't in love with him, and neither was he. He was still protective of me to the point that it sometimes drove me insane, but I knew him better now. Klaus didn't open his heart in words, but rather in actions. To show me the same sort of protectiveness that he showed Rebekah, it was huge deal.

"Compel the men to open up this wall," he told me, "We need sun. I want a fortress, not a dungeon." I rolled my eyes in response, lifting a mug filled with just warmed blood and taking a sip.

"You do it. I'm not your slave." I whistled, "Kendra! Go compel the men to open up this wall!" I commanded the young hybrid. She didn't seem very old, but not even any of the three Originals could compel her to tell us her age. The other hybrids obeyed me, because, with the exception of Tyler, I was the only hybrid without the sire bond. They all knew of my relationship with the man beside me. One of his orders to them was to obey my or Rebekah's commands.

It had taken some time, but Rebekah had eventually forgiven her brother for their mother's death, despite the fact she was alive. Maybe is was in spite of their mother being alive that she forgave him. She still sleeps with one eye open, so I asked Ashley to place a special guard on her room, wherever we were at, so that every person had to be invited into her room, not just the once, but multiple times. I know the female Original had appreciated the gesture on my part, and she had forgiven me too. After all, I had been trying to protect her by daggering her. I didn't want Mikael to accidently kill her that night. She had even given me permission to call her 'Beka', as her brother did.

"I'm going to go. I told Bonnie I'd meet her once we got settled." I gave him a quick peck to his cheek.

"Don't go down that hallway," Beka motioned to the one she just came from, "Elijah and Katerina have decided they want to have a make out session there." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Are you ready to go, Elena?"

"You're going with her to visit Bonnie?" Klaus asked in surprise. Beka shrugged.

"I'm going to ask her if she can take away the images of Katerina and Elijah. I didn't need to see them like that," she shuttered. "It was downright scary."

Klaus chuckled. Beka glared but I hit his arm, not hard enough to actually hurt or anything, but enough to scold him to be nice. "I'll have to give them a house."

"Yes," his sister agreed, "Oh the outskirts of the property, preferably out of hearing range." He chuckled at that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So where are we really going?" Beka asked me when we were in the car.

"To Bonnie's," I told her, acting as if that were the full truth.

She rolled her eyes, snorting lightly. "Just because my brother is so enamored by you that he can't see through when you're lying doesn't mean that I can't see through when you're lying."

I glanced at the female Original besides me. "We are going to Bonnie's. You're going to stay with Bonnie while I meet with someone for a while, then I'll come back."

"Yes, who is this someone?" she demanded, her patience running thin. This was the sixth time she had asked me. I sighed, finally giving in.

"His name is Thomas Gilbert. He's a cousin or a great uncle or something." She nodded, relaxing.

"Anthony's coming here tomorrow," she informed me. Anthony was Damon's younger brother, but he was actually older than Stefan. He didn't look that old at all. He had told me he was nineteen, and that had made me blink. The man was Giuseppe Salvatore, and though we had seen a skeleton when we dug up Giuseppe's grave, it wasn't his bones.

"That's good." Secretly, I think Beka liked Anthony more than she liked Stefan. He called her Miss Rebekah, which she always blushed at. He was always so sweet to her. I think she's just scared to admit that she's fallen out of love with Stefan and in love with his older brother, kind of the same way I had. I turned again and noticed the blush that had overcome her cheeks. "You like him." She shook her head, but was smiling. I knew she was lying. "It's okay to love them both," I told her. She laughed silently.

"That sounds like something Katerina would say." I gave her a grin, turning back to the road.

"That's because it is." I turned the engine off as we pulled into Bonnie's driveway. "I don't think she ever imagined though that her little 'advice' there would apply for me to Damon and Klaus, not Damon and Stefan as she had intended." Beka laughed at this.

Bonnie opened her door as we started to the porch, ushering us both in quickly. Once inside, she latched the doors shut with magic. Then she moved to the windows, shutting all of the curtains quickly. "What is it?" I asked her.

"I think Stefan might be back in town." Beka and I shared a glance.

"But Ashley said that he was still building his army." Bonnie motioned for us to come down to the basement with her. Her and Jeremy were back together and married and they lived in Bonnie's house. Jeremy wasn't home right now. He taught art at the school and had an art club. That's where he was at right now.

"Stefan is still building his army. He's just not with them."

"We need to tell Nik," Beka said, pulling out her phone, and stepping into one of the side rooms.

"How are you, Elena?" one of my oldest and dearest best friends asked me. I shrugged.

"I'm good. I'm happy. It's nice to be happy." She nodded at my answer.

"I called Thomas and asked him to come here instead. It's not safe for you to be out too much." I glanced into one of the mirrors hanging in the spacious basement. The basement was definitely a witch's lair for Bonnie. "I'll lend you a hat or something for you to go back. You need to make sure Katherine stays under the radar too." I nodded.

"Mommy?" a young voice asked and a tiny girl with soft, tan skin, and Jer's eyes came down the stairs. I felt a pang as I thought of my own two daughters. I missed them. I was worried about them. I had no idea where they were at or if they were alive. They were safer this way. They had to be. I only left them to protect them. I never wanted to leave them.

"Elena, I'm going to head back," Beka said, coming out of the room, "If Stefan's here, Finn and Kol sure aren't far behind. Nik is having the workers leave. The house is mostly finished anyways. Anything else, we can just have one of the hybrids do." I nodded. "Be safe, 'Lena." I tossed her the keys on her way up from the basement.

"Mommy, who she?" the little girl asked. Silently, I was wondering the same thing. I had a niece.

"This is Mommy's friend. I need you to be a good girl now and go back upstairs." The little girl bobbed her head.

"Okay Mommy." She walked back up the stairs and I raised my eye at Bonnie.

"Any reason you decided not to tell me you had a daughter, Bonnie?" Bonnie's pressed her lips tightly together, fighting a smile. "What?"

"You remember during senior prank night, where Klaus said my name?" I nodded, wondering where this was going. "You sounded just like him there. That was too creepy." I snapped my finger, looking disappointed.

"Darn!" I said loudly and over dramatically. The doorbell rang and I let Bonnie go up the stairs first. She opened the door for Thomas as I hung back.

"Damon Salvatore was seen entering the Grill, about twenty minutes ago," he told us. Now, Bonnie looked at me. I stared at Thomas' face, seeing if he was joking, finding no trace of him lying.


	2. Chapter 1- Isobelle

_Dear Diary,_

_Three times in two years. That’s how much they’ve moved us around. Now, we’re stuck in this one-pony town called Mystic Falls. I almost wonder if it’s because of the vampires. About twelve years ago, there was this vampire that went on national television and told the world about vampires and about werewolves. We’ve been on the move ever since._

I pulled the curtain back on my bed, looking at the clock on my bedside table. In a half hour, maybe less, I would start being compared yet again to my twin, Jennifer. I looked nothing like my twin. My pale eyes were much to blue and my hair is much too dark, almost black, except in the sun when it shows it’s actually dark dark brown, and much too straight. Jennifer has curly chocolate waves and hazel eyes. My mom told me that I have my dad’s eyes. I haven’t seen her in over thirteen years, not since my fourth birthday when she gave me her necklace and her teddy bear.

_Mystic Falls knew about vampires before they were out in the open. At least that’s what the town’s gossip says. They say the mayor’s son married a vampire, the sheriff’s daughter. We moved into a small, two-story house. It was Victorian style, like most of the other houses around here._

_There are more than just vampires out there. I know it. Others do as well. Demons, werewolves, shape shifters, skin walkers, ghosts, djinn, rugaru, zombies, poltergeist, hellhounds, leviathans, doppelgangers, reapers, revenants, kitsune, sirens, shtrigas, vengeful spirits, wendigo, wraith, ōkami, and changeling. They’re all real. They all exist. I fight them when I can, to protect my sister, my family. She might not be grateful, but she’ll never have to know. She’ll never have to know the danger she’s in all the time. I taught myself when I was young how to be a hunter. I got into this business for a reason, my family. I’m seventeen, with kills already under my belt. But they never have to know, because I’ll never tell._

_The two biggest threats in the world: leviathans and vampires. You can kill a vampire easy. Leviathans... not so much._

A sudden tremor ran through my whole body and with a jolt, I was thrown back into the bed as if by some invisible force. The first flash came, a blinding light of a person talking. She was blonde, with bouncy hair, older, pretty. She was in what looked like a hotel room. There was a clock by her table that read six fourteen p.m. Another bright white pulse overtook my vision for a second. I could hear garbled talking, bits of the woman chanting in Latin, screams, a man attacking at her. The man was tall, in his late-teens, his features contorted. I could see others joining, and then an address, 53 was on the door as one of the inhuman creatures walked in. A quick cut to the sign in the front, a sign reading the hotel names with its city. A flash and I jerked back into reality.

Getting up quickly, I closed my journal, grabbing the sketchbook I kept under my pillow and sketching out a rough drawing of the woman, the men, their faces, and the room. I had been having visions since I was little. At first, the doctors, my grandparents, and everyone else thought they were seizures. After vampires became public news, they thought I was possessed. After that, I learned to hide my visions better.

“Izzy!” Jennifer yelled through our shared bathroom door, “Get up.” I sighed, tore out my drawing, and stood up.

“I’m up, I’m up,” I told her, grabbing on tightly to one of the post of the bed. My head was still foggy, my eyes too sensitive to the light, and my brain felt like it had been split down the center and poured with boiling lava. Moving slowly across the room, I finally reached the bathroom door and open it. She was applying makeup.

I didn’t get it with these girls. At every school we went to, the girls all had makeup caked onto their faces. I was not one of them. I had absolutely no desire to look like a Chinese concubine from Disney’s Mulan, one of my all time favorite animated Disney classics. I laughed, I cried, I thought it was brilliant. Jenny shook her head at me, rolling her eyes as I padded my way to the shower, letting the water heat up. She left the room, storming out into her bedroom as she shot a glare at me. Not my fault she needed perfect silence to put on her face. Through the water, I could hear her going down the stairs, still upset about that obviously.

 _Stupid Jennifer,_ I thought to myself as I stepped into the shower.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was all right looking, a little on the pale side from my vision, but all right. I wasn’t beautiful, not in the least the way Jennifer was. Maybe she didn’t like that my name was more beautiful. Isobelle Alexia Rosemarie. It sounded like some sort of fairytale name. Jenny wouldn’t want it if she knew its origin. Isobel and Isabelle for both of our grandmothers. Isobel had been a vampire and died a little over a decade and a half ago. Isabelle was dead now for some time. Alexia was a friend of my uncle, a good vampire, according to my mom, but she died a while ago. Rosemarie was a friend of my parents. She had taken a werewolf bite for my dad and also died. They were all vampires except for my father’s mother. Jennifer hated vampires.

Jenny had left her phone on the bathroom counter again. A text came in from one of the girls she met yesterday. I opened it.

_Of course u can hang out w/ us Jenna, but leave that ugly chick from yesterday BEHIND!!! We don’t need her ruining our rep. or urs. ;) NeNe_

Anger flooded through me. How dare she say such things about me? She didn’t even know me. The mirror and other loose items in the bathroom began to rattle around. I took a deep breath, calming myself. Staring, I looked down at the items.

“No...” the word came out breathy, “No, no, no, no, no. This isn’t happening to me.” I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing myself to the wall, “It’s not.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time I got downstairs, dressed in black boots, dark jeans, a dark blue button down, and a leather duster, Jenny had already finished her meager breakfast of a granola bar and an apple because God forbid she actually eat a real breakfast and gain half a pound. I smacked her phone onto the table. “You left this in the bathroom,” I told her irritably, pulling one of the same granola bars from the cabinet that normally I’d citizen her about. However, I kept silent about it. My brain was on overdrive, plotting, wondering.

Was I a witch? No, I wasn’t. I knew I wasn’t. Still, my power didn’t come from nowhere. Maybe I could somehow get a hold of my mom if I was. After all, there were witches in the world. Maybe I can find one who’d help me. Maybe they could also help me take control of my visions, instead of the other way around.

“Uh,” Jenny said, glancing down at my outfit with disdain, “Someone woke up and thought she could actually pick out her own clothes. Cute,” she said snottily in the most sarcastic voice she had.

I smirked at her. “At least this is my real skin color.” Then under my breath, I muttered, “Vampie.” A vampie was anyone who was a vampire groupie. They wanted to be a vampire’s walking blood bag, a happy meal, I always called them. They were the meal and the toy. Being called a vampie was an insult. As my sister scowled at me, I sauntered out. 

I took to the street in my boots, coat flapping behind me in the breeze, walking down the road. Only minutes from downtown, I made it there in no time, walking into that bar-slash-hangout place we’d eaten yesterday. I walked up to the bar, plopping down on a stool and observed the honey haired bartender. A name flashed to my mind. Matt.

When I was little, my mom used to come to me in the middle of the night before I turned four, the night I turned four being the last time. She had shown me a picture of her and her friends. There was honey haired Matt, who looked older, but still the same, golden girl Caroline, mocha Bonnie, brown haired Uncle Jeremy, an older man, a teacher at the high school who Mom told me was Alaric Saltzman, Ric for short, my mother’s stepfather. There was a dark haired boy with his arms around Caroline, a werewolf named Tyler. In the center of the picture, both smiling was my mom.

She was beautiful, so young and alive and jovial. Jenny was the spitting image of her, other than how curly my sister’s hair was. She was standing beside a guy in a black leather jacket, much shorter than mine. He, like me, had dark hair. Mom would never tell me his name. That man was sitting right besides me, looking identical to the man in the picture.

“Give me your best,” I told to Matt, the bartender. Liquor was the one thing that was quick to cure the post-vision migraines. Unfortunately, if I drank too much from the liquor cabinet at home, the grandparents might begin to notice.

“You’re a kid. Let me see some ID.” I pulled out my wallet, pulling out a well made false ID. Alexia Masen, twenty-two. The bartender nodded, turning around to pour me a drink.

“So what’s your story?” When I looked at him, it was like he never had spoke. He was just sitting there, calmly drinking some bourbon. He set the empty glass down, singling Matt to come refill it. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, somewhat quietly.

“You’re here trying to get drunk in the morning. It’s not even eight. So something must have happened.”

“You don’t share a bathroom with my sister in the mornings.” He nodded understandingly.

“One of those siblings. Yeah, my little brother kidnapped me and had me compelled.” I flinched at the thought. I had never been compelled, but I knew from listening to others that it was a major pain.

“That stinks.” He nodded in agreement. He held his hand out to me.

“Damon. Damon Salvatore. That’s Matt.” Damon, Greek for demon. It seemed almost fitting; he was wearing more black than I. He was a vampire. I didn’t know how I knew this, I just did. Yet, his expression didn’t match that of a demons or malevolent vampire. He looked heartbroken. Old boyfriend, guy who was in love with her, my mother had never said, never. She had written his name only once on the back of the picture. I don’t think she even realized it.

“Isobelle,” I told them both.

“You’re ID says Alexia,” Matt pointed out.

“Alexia Isobelle. What can I say, I like my middle name better.” The bartender nodded, placing my glass before me. I took a sip of the liquor, savoring as it burned its way down my throat.

“So” Damon said, turning back to Matt, “are you going to answer my question about where Elena is?”

Elena. It had been a long time since I heard that name. She had been the doppelganger, a supernatural occurrence. No one would say the real reason of why she existed, but everyone knew that she died. How was the real question. Rumors flew all over the place about it. I disliked the attention Jennifer always got and I was always trying to shield her from it. Jennifer is the human doppelganger; I knew it. I had seen Elena’s picture- my mother’s picture.

“She’s dead, Damon.” 

“So they’re true then, the rumors?” Damon asked. I reached into my pocket, searching for money to pay for the drink and coming across a picture instead, the picture I had recognized Matt and Damon from. I had the picture memorized, so I slapped it down under a twenty and rushed out of there. I had one last errand I needed to run before school.

“Hello, nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”

I took a breath, doing my best to sound helpless and scared. “I-I heard some men talking. Their faces looked weird. I-I think they were vampires. They were talking about killing this woman... um... at the Hearth and Home Inn, just outside Mystic Falls, in room fifty-three. They said something about six p.m.” I let out a chocked sob. “I don’t know what to do?”

“Miss, are you in a safe spot?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Okay, don’t worry. We’ll send help to this woman. Can you get out of there safely?”

“I-I t-think so.”

“Good. Now get somewhere public or go to your home and don’t let anyone in. We appreciate your tip.” I waited a moment before hearing the telltale dial tone to know that the operator had hung up. Then, with a flick of my coat, I turned and began walking. I was going to be late for school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

History. I had always loved history. Until Jennifer sat down right in front of me with some of her bimbo friends. Lame, bimbo friends who had enough makeup on to cover the world in a cloud of dust. In a way, I was glad my sister used so much makeup. Most people wouldn’t recognize her as the doppelganger.

The history teacher taught another class, Vampire Protection and Supernatural Awareness. It was taught by Mr. Saltzman, or should I say Step-Grandpa? Both of the classes were. All of us had him for our mandatory class that took the place of P.E. in most cases. I had decided to take P.E. and this, considering I had finished all my math and English credits the previous year. VPSA, as the class was shortened, came first for us, Jennifer and I.

“Compulsion,” he said, writing the word on the board, “What does it mean?” A blonde in the front row raised her hand. “Yes?”

“Compulsion is where vampires force you to do their will.” It was sort of a textbook answer. Everyone painted vampires as the bad guys. I knew that wasn’t the case. They felt things. Most of the time.

“That’s correct,” he told the girl before turning back to the class, “So today, we have an old friend of mine here. She is a vampire and she offered to help you guys learn how to block compulsion. Her father had successfully mastered the technique before he died.” Because that’s a comforting thought. “So who wants to go first?” No hands rose into the air. He looked down at the list. “How about one of our new students?” His brow furrowed at our names and I shrugged, standing.

“Sure, I’ll go.” The vampire, a peppy looking blonde, grinned. She too I recognized from the picture which was now in the possession of either Matt Donovan or Damon Salvatore. Caroline Forbes the girl’s name was.

“Great. Come on up here.” I walked to the front of the room, looking at her. She looked into my eyes. “What’s your name?”

 _Pick the first thing that comes to mind,_ my subconscious whispered to me. “Katherine.” She blinked, taken off guard.

“Katherine?” she asked before looking at the teacher. Finally, she looked back at me. “Who is the other new student?”

“Katerina, Katrina, Kathy, Kate, Kathleen, Katelyn, Kat, Karina, Karen, -”

“Ha ha,” she interrupted me. “Those are all just forms of Katherine.” I shrugged.

“My sister has lots of multiple personalities she brings along with her everywhere,” I pretended to confide in her, looking rather smug.

“Uh huh.” I smirked. “Take off your necklace. It has vervain in it,” she declared, “And that’s cheating.” I shrugged, taking it off and setting it onto the teacher’s desk, before walking back and standing before her, looking her straight in the eyes.

“Ask away, Miss Forbes.” She stiffened.

“How did you know my name?” she compelled, only I didn’t feel the need to answer her.

“Because I’m awesome like that,” I replied cockily in the same monotone voice that I had heard others use under compulsion. 

“Are you a witch?” My brows furrow as I looked at her incredulously.

“Do I look like a witch to you?”

“Fine,” she wrinkled her nose, “none of the witches I know would wear a jacket like that.”

“It cost me a fortune to get,” I shot back, defending my duster. No one seemed to understand a good leather coat anymore. “Besides, all the other jackets at the store were just ugly.”

“What are you then?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” I rolled my eyes when she stuttered, turning back to the desk to grab my necklace, only to find Mr. Saltzman staring at it.

“Where did you get this? Did you steal this?”

“Listen, no, Ric, may I call you, Ric?” I brushed my hair back behind my ear, “A human vampire hunter teacher plus gaudy ring equals... Rupert Giles. So Ripper,” I said, adopting the English accent used by Ethan Rayne on Buffy, “what is your interest in my necklace? Some sort of amulet that’s gonna close the Hellmouth?”

“Huh?” he asked, looking up at me confused. I shook my head.

“I’ve had that necklace next to my entire life. It’s mine.”

“Caroline,” he said to the vampire, ignoring what I had said, “Haven’t you seen that necklace before?”

Caroline’s eyes narrowed at it, then at me, then back at it. The class was silent, watching our confrontation. She took the necklace, ignoring the vervain, and stared at it. “This was Elena’s.” She declared. I didn’t stiffen. I was a warrior, whether anyone chose to see it or not, and a direct link to whatever higher power there was. I had trained myself, taught myself all I needed to know to protect my sister from anyone and anything coming after the doppelganger. “When did you steal it?”

“I already told you I didn’t steal it.” Her hand came up around my throat, slamming me into the wall.

“When did you steal it from her, you little thief? Tell me the truth, darn it!” 

I didn’t answer. I reached a hand up to her arm, the one that had me by the throat, and flipped her onto the ground using all my strength in my one arm. Jennifer had been interested in ballet when she was a child. I used to go to the martial arts school beside the ballet studio and the master there taught me. When we moved, his school casually appeared beside where she was learning ballet. Soon, I learned why. He was a vampire, an old one, comfortably in his six hundreds. He posed no threat to my sister’s safety, however, and even said he had no interest in the problems that the vampires of the west had created for themselves.

A year ago, I went to the school to find his gray corpse with a stake sticking out of it and a vampire hunter over my master’s dead body. He had told me I had strength, that I was more than just human. And I was. A year ago, I killed a demon for the first time. I had salted and burned the corpse of the exorcised demon. Then I took my master’s body into the sun, pulled the stake out, took off his ring, and let him become ashes in the wind. 

As my blood pressure rose, the pencils in the cup began to rattle. “Miss FitzGerald,” came Alaric sharp tone, snapping me back, “Sit down.” My eyes flashed at him, and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I needed to calm down. I didn’t want them to know. They couldn’t know. The pencils settled and Alaric glanced down at them, his brow furrowing in confusion. I clasped my necklace back around my throat as I headed to my seat and sat down. My sister glanced back at me in disgust, then turned away. I couldn’t let it bother me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had come to the restroom for peace. My head was killing me, the result of a mini-vision that had me stopping a guy at lunch from stabbing another guy. On top of that, I kept hearing voices of people that weren’t there. I had hoped that in the quiet sanctuary of the bathroom, I might stop hearing the voices and their never-ending conversations. Peace, however, was not what I found here as I heard the door open.

“So, Jenna, what is wrong with your sister?” I overheard one of the girls in her little group as my sister from my hiding spot in the bathroom stall. I couldn’t go out there to lunch. My head hurt and I was really hungry.

“She’s a freak,” Jenny confided in them, “I don’t think she’s even really my sister. More like some charity nutcase.” The girls all laughed. I pressed my lips shut, closing my eyes tight as I sat on the toilet seat lid, my backpack on the stall door. “Did you see that outfit she was wearing? She thinks she’s so special.”

“Any dirt on her?”

“She used to, like, completely spaz out. Seizure or something, but she’d yell and scream and thrash around, and so finally, my grandparents brought in some mythic healing person, and they de-possessed her. She hasn’t had a spaz out since.” Oh, if only she knew how wrong she was.

“Did you see the way she flipped Caroline Forbes?” a British accent asked, “Now there’s a girl I wouldn’t mind getting to know.”

“Who are you?” one of Jenny’s friends asked her.

“I’m Rebekah. I’m new,” the British girl replied.

“Obviously, otherwise you would've known that you don’t talk with us,” another answered. I pulled my bag off the door, reaching for the lock.

“You’re a freak just like Jenna’s sister!” one of the girl’s exclaimed. I leaned against the outside of the stall.

“Hey now, that’s not very nice. Don’t pick on the new girl. Not all of us can be so daft and homely as you bunch.” One of the simpler girls cooed at that.

“Aww, she’s so sweet.” Jenny rolled her eyes.

“That wasn’t a compliment just then,” the British girl told them. Rebekah had blonde hair and brown eyes. She was lovely. And she didn’t like Caroline either. Pity... for Caroline. But I could see into her, past her exterior. She was a vampire. One of Jenny’s new friends was a werewolf; I could see that too. “Isobelle, was it?” she asked and I gave a slight nod. “Well come on then. Let’s see what my brothers can’t make of you.”

I stepped back, smiling at the vamp. “Well, I’d love to, really, but I have to go.” With that, I turned and strolled out of the restroom, black duster trailing behind me, boot heels clicking on the tile floor, and walked into the sunshine.


	3. Chapter 2- Isobelle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Jenny for so long could be tiresome. Tailing Jenny for so long, unnoticed, while she talked on with her friends- a werewolf, two witches, and a human- about things like how lame I was, which guy they thought was the hottest, and who had the worst outfit was just plain torture... good, old-fashioned torture. I closed my eyes for a moment. I wished to just put myself out of my misery.

“You,” a voice hissed and a hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned and faced the honey-haired and blue-eyed Matt. “Where’d you get that picture?”

I gave him a half smile. “Who wants to know?” He glared and oh if looks could kill... “I found it in one of the places I lived. That picture was in the back of the very bottom of the closet.”

Matt seemed to settle for this explanation. It wasn’t a very good one, but oh well, I decided as I walked off. I was in a bad enough mood as it was without explaining to some human who knew nothing about my mother and where she was. The two sides of me, the visions and the voice versus the human side, were fighting each other. It would explain my foul mood, if anyone knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Running. Black sneakers hit the concrete sidewalk, kicking up dirt and stones. It was the first time since we’d moved to Mystic Falls that I had allowed myself this pleasure. My hair was tied back in a ponytail, my lithe body on display for the world in only a tank top and short shorts. My heart, though relatively mute compared to that of the humans that surrounded on a day to day basis, was racing as I pushed myself to go faster.

While I ran, I looked at the world around me. There was Mrs. Bennett-Gilbert, sitting on her front porch with her young daughter. In the town square, Mayor Lockwood was talking to some people about reelection. As I pasted the shops, I spotted Jenny and her friends, and hung back, wanting to avoid another argument for time’s sake. I was a woman on a mission, on the look for someone, anyone, who could help me. I paused, stopping completely as I saw it sitting in the window of the store that my sister had just exited. The dress was long, dark blue, several shades darker than my eyes, but not as dark as most of my clothing. Against my skin, it would look incredible.

And then, in the reflection of the store window, I saw him and my heart stopped beating for a few moments. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, all blond and blue eyes and chiseled features. I hadn’t seen him before; I would have remembered him. Our eyes met. In the reflection of the store window, my eyes lifted to his. Pale blue eyes to vibrant ones and his lips turned up. My heart stopped for a spell, my breathing hitched, and I turned sharply, but he wasn’t there.

I shook my head. Hybrid.

I passed the gym. They were offering, and I quote, “street fighting in a cage”. The winner would get three hundred dollars if they could beat their champion. It would be money to buy my dress. I really wanted that dress. My lips pulled up into a smile and I pulled open the door. 

“I’d like to sign up to try to beat the champion.” The men behind the counter took in my appearance, and then laughed.

“Go home, kid. You wouldn’t face a chance.”

“I won’t face a chance if you don’t give me one,” I snidely replied back at them. The one guy nodded, then handed me a paper to sign. I scanned it, signing one of my aliases, the one I had used this morning, Alexia Masen, on the line.

“Let’s see what you can do against him.” He smirked, letting me in the ring. A cage came down over me and another man, with short, dark hair, tan skin, dark eyes. He looked familiar, and when he looked up at me, I knew why. Mom’s picture. He was Tyler Lockwood. He was a hybrid, a werewolf turned into a vampire by Klaus. “You have five minutes. We’ve discovered any more can harm the people a bit too much. Don’t bite her, Ty man. Can’t have her sue us.” He smirked, eyes flashing to gold.

I sized him up. I could take him. My master had been over five hundred, and I could easily take him. Well, not easily, but I could hold my own. Tyler was a child compared to him and some of the demons and monsters I’d faced since then.

The clock started.

Tyler knew it had and he circled me, like a predator and its prey. I crouched, watching as he jumped at me. I flipped, grabbing the cage, holding myself up. He snarled at me, his veins and fangs showing. I smirked, letting myself fall, landing like a cat. He lunged at me and I blocked his attack. He threw a punch. I kicked my foot at his face. He caught it, causing me to fall flat on my butt. I glared up at the werepire, or maybe vampwolf. Eh, it didn’t matter what I called him. I let him pin me before I sneered at him. “You’re going to make me do the classic move, aren’t you?”

“Classic move?” he asked confused just before I kneed him in a very uncomfortable place. He groaned, rolling off me. I grinned. He stood, coming at me and I flipped him, pinning him to the ground, sitting on his arms, placing my hands on both side of his head to snap it clear off his shoulders. I leaned forward, whispering into his ear.

“Four minutes, fifty two seconds. I win.”

“Who are you, kid?” I chuckled.

“Ain’t that the million dollar question?” I stood as the cage lifted from around us. I held out my hand to him to help him up, and he took it.

“You’re that girl, the one that Care, Ric, and Matt were all talking about. You had a picture of us, you defended yourself from Caroline, made Buffy the Vampire Slayer references at Alaric, and now you come looking for a fight. Are you a vampire, or are you just cocky?” I shrugged.

“I never died, if that’s what you’re asking. I know I’ve got something in me and fighting channels the pent up energy and frustration elsewhere, otherwise I take it out on my sister. She takes it out on our grandparents’ credit cards.”

Tyler chuckled, panting some. He pulled two bottles of water from the cooler and offered me one. I took the offered bottle, taking a long sip. “I’m here every Tuesday and Thursday from three to five. Come find me. We can fight. I doubt too many others could take you. A vampire triple my age, maybe.” I smiled at that. I had dealt with things far worse than vampires and hybrids. After all, I was a hunter. “Where you learn to fight like that? That’s not just instinct.”

Black hair falling forward from the ponytail as I pulled the hair tie out and redid it, I smiled, my head tilted down looking at the bottle in my hands. “I knew a vampire who was a martial arts instructor. He was over five hundred. He taught me some techniques, trained me.” I smiled at the distant memories. It was during that time when things were actually good for us. Good for me. When my sister still loved me. When we were still sisters in more ways then just by blood. 

I went and reached for the check that the man behind the counter was handing me. Three hundred dollars was a lot of money. I wish that I had some type of foresight I could control to be able to invest the money and make it double and triple, but I didn’t. I’d just have to guess.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you remind me of someone.” I turned back to him, Tyler. I gave him a small, sad smile.

“I get that a lot.” It was true, and I hated that. I pushed the door opened and couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so grateful to feel the sunshine on my skin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where were you?” Grandma asked me when I got home, her arms crossed, her standing firmly in the doorway.

“Out,” I muttered under my breath, trying to push past her, but she caught my shoulders and pushed me just outside the threshold of the house.

“Isobelle, where were you? Jenna said you were stalking her again.”

I glowered at the woman. “I don’t stalk her. I have better things to do with my time than to sit around playing watchdog for baby sis. Didn’t know the world revolved around her.”

“Were you out shopping? Spending money we don’t have? Where were you?”

“Out!” I yelled at the woman, so hard that the vase nearly fell off the hallway table. I took a deep breath, calming myself.

“Grandma!” Isobelle yelled as she came down the steps. “Isobelle ruined my dress I was going to wear to the dance at the 2010s’ dance at school!” 

“I didn’t touch your precious little dress,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

“Tone, Isobelle!” she shrieked at me before she turned to my oh-so-perfect, do-no-wrong twin. “How much do you need to replace it, Jenna darling?”

“About two hundred dollars. I’ll need new shoes and accessories to match the new dress.”

“Or you could just wear Mom’s old dress.” Both of them stared at me as if I had suggested running around stark naked in town square, wearing only blood. I sighed, pushing past them. “Whatever.”

I decided I’d cash the check instead of spending it, put it away for safe keeping. I’d probably need it sometime. Better be safe than sorry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“Look at that, Izzy!” Jenny called to me, like we were friends, “Look how pretty!” she pointed at the dress in the display of the shop window. It wasn’t the one I had seen earlier, but it was beautiful just the same._

_“Gorgeous,” I muttered, “Let’s go.”_

_“Yes... let’s go.” I turned around and the man was there, green eyes, blond hair, and a teasing smirk. “Did you really think you could hide my doppelganger, Isobelle? I need her more than you do.”_

_I froze before my body reacted. I was strong, but he was stronger. He would always be stronger. He was a vampire. He chuckled, whispering into my ear, “Silly girl.”_

_With that he turned and bit into my sister’s neck. There was a line behind him, to which he passed my sister along to, telling them to drink from her. I needed to stop it, but I was too weak. The line parted as each took a sip, as if Jenny was merely the chalice that held the wine for Holy Communion._

_As the line ended, a woman stepped forward. I knew this woman. I had seen her for most of my life in my dreams. She stepped by my sister, yanking me up by the arms. I looked up, but the woman whose face I looked into was not my mother’s. “Who-?”_

_“You’re not human,” she hissed. I blinked. Her eyes turned to the heavens. “There shall come one that must die for the curse to be broken and she shall bear a true hybrid, born out of her blood and the blood of her vampire love and is of the angels, who will see what is to come, and she shall bring peace or rain destruction on the races of the world.”_

_“What’s that supposed to mean?” I yelled at head as everything began to fade away, until only she and I remained, standing on that one piece of concrete in the gray-blackness that surrounded us. Panic set in. “Bring me back.”_

_“You must find your own way, Isobelle,” a woman said. Her hair shifted, and she began to look like my mother too, then her hair fell into curls. Katherine, my head screamed._

_“You have to find your balance,” the blonde vampire, Rebekah, that I had met today, spoke. “Vampires and witchlings don’t get along well at all.”_

_“I know,” I muttered, “But I’m not a witch.”_

_“Maybe not,” she sighed._

_“I can help you,” that voice whispered in my ear. He was strong, but he wasn’t hurting me. He was holding me near, my back to his chest, his lips by my ear, my hair to his cheek, his arms wrapped around my waist. He was strong enough to hold me, restrain me, strong enough to crush my bones with his hands. Even so, I knew I was safe. He wouldn’t hurt me, not really. “Let me help you, my lovely.” His works were almost purred in my ear._

_“Okay. Help me.”_

_“I’m not your enemy, Isobelle. We both want to protect the doppelganger.”_

_“Why?” I whispered._

_“I made a promise to a lady.” My breath caught in my throat. The next second, the security I’d felt in his arms was gone. I had my back against a wall, someone strangling me. I looked up into crazed green eyes and blackness over came me._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone had gone. They’d left me home again, all alone, without waking me. No note, no telling when they’d get back. That was my first instinct when I heard the quiet. 

As I climbed down the stairs, something felt wrong. A sense of dread and panic washed over my body and I knew that something was not right. My grandparents lay unconscious and my sister were nowhere to be seen.


	4. Chapter 3- Isobelle

Running. Faster than my feet could carry me, I tore through the streets, my heart pounding rapidly. Fighting against the crowds, I searched for some sign that she was okay. I swiped the back of my hand angrily over the tears on my face. Now was not the time to get emotional, and maybe that's why I never saw anyone until I slammed face first into Damon Salvatore.

"What do you think you'r - Isobelle? Are you alright? What happened?" I caught my breath, stopping before him. Somehow, I knew I could trust him.

"Someone took my sister." The words were out of my mouth before I could be given the license to speak. Maybe that was because I knew he'd understand. Being the older sibling meant taking care of your younger sibling. It didn't matter how much they drove us to insanity, we still had to keep them safe. "I need you to help me find her."

He thought for a minute, and then nodded. He, like me, wore his leather jacket proudly and black boots peeking out from underneath dark jeans where as I was wearing black jeans, my boots, my locket, and of course, my duster. It was eerie how similar we dressed. If he wasn't so much older than me, I might have mistaken our reflection in the window for that of father and daughter or possibly siblings.

"Why?" he asked me as we walked. At the confused look I shot him, he rolled his eyes. "Why'd they take her? What's so special about her?"

"She's the doppelganger." The words fell from my mouth and I felt like I had the worst case of diarrhea ever. Damon stopped short, hurt flickering across his features. As soon as it was there, it was gone and he was slamming me into the wall, his features vamped out.

"You're lying..." he growled out. I shook my head.

"I'm not." I lifted my hand to my coat pocket carefully, taking care not to set him off and pulled out my wallet. I opened it to the only picture I had of my sister and held it out to him. He dropped me to the ground and I straightened myself out. His thumb ran over the picture, his eyes sad, but he nodded.

"So your mother was Elena." It was a statement, not a question. He handed me back the wallet. "Who was your dad?" I shrugged because that was the question I've been wanting to know since when I was a little girl. "Is she really dead?" I looked up at him.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I haven't seen her or spoken to her since mine and Jenny's fourth birthday. Jenny didn't even get to see her. She was asleep."

Damon looked thoughtful at that, but then he motioned me to continue walking.

* * *

I was running on pure rage and hatred of my sister being a doppleganger. If I didn't kill something soon, I might just take it out on poor Damon, just to take it out on someone. I mean, it's not my fault the woman he loved had kids and then totally abandoned all of us. I guess it was too much to expect her to stay.

"Oh no, the little girl is angry," a voice taunted from behind my seat in this bar, just outside of town. I snapped around, my hair flying out behind me, moments before I was pinned to the tree. My stake fell from the back of my pants where it had been hiding.

"Who the hell are you?" He was a vampire, an Original. I could tell. I didn't know how I could tell, but I just could.

"The name's Kol. And you must be the little girl that's been causing rifts in the ranks. Some of those minions are getting too cocky, after hearing about the girl who has stopped anyone or anything that tries to hunt down the doppleganger." He tsked. "I guess it's a good thing I know where she is..."

"Don't play games," I muttered, staring him down angrily with a snarl. The man had the audacity to laugh.

"Rawr, kitten's got claws, I see." He said smugly.

"Kitten will skin you alive if you don't stop making fun of her," I shot back at him mockingly, mimicking his tone.

He chuckled. "Oh I'm so scared." I glared back at him. One side of his lips turned up in a smirk. "Ask nicely now."

"Please tell me where the doppleganger is..." I bit out through gritted teeth.

He laughed, long and loud. "Nah, I don't think I will." He stepped back, dropping me down and walking off. I was really getting fed up with this Kol guy who thought he could just strut in here, give me my crumb of hope that my sister might still be alive, and then walk away with my crumb in hand. Suddenly, he was pinned to the nearest tree by an invisible force, panic on his face. I reached for my fallen stake from the ground and it somehow found my hand. I was not one to look at a gift horse in the mouth too much.

"Don't test me," I growled out, pressing the stake just over his heart, "because I will kill you."

"What the - " he cut off, looking down at my stake, before looking back up at me, his eyes now wide with fear, "Is that white oak?"

"Why don't you tell me where she is so you won't have to find out?"

"You head over to Richmond," he choked out. When he didn't give more details, I pressed the stake into his skin, ripping his shirt, and blood instantly welled up. His eyes enlarged and suddenly, he became a fountain of information, "And you head south on ninety-five to just south of the North Carolina border. There's a large house, it looks dilapidated. She's there. They're waiting for him," he nodded towards Damon, "Your brother."

I stabbed Kol with the stake and stepped back, watching as his body became engulfed in flames. I didn't have another white ash oak stake, but it'd have to be okay for now. I turned sharply at Damon. "What did he mean 'your brother'?"

"He claims he loved Elena first. He is mistaken as usual." He stared me down, with a depth and intensity that ninety percent of the people I knew lacked, "If I find out that he's the reason Elena's gone, I will stake him. He stopped being my brother when he had Kol compel me."

With a nod, I turned away and walked towards his car, which was sitting in the back corner of the Grill's parking lot, away from other cars. It was strange to think of Damon as the kind of guy who worried about scratches getting on his car. "Let's get going. We're wasting time."

The raven haired vampire didn't acknowledge my words, but followed me anyway. He got into the driver's seat and we headed towards the house.

* * *

"Stop," I commanded Damon as he revved the engine of his car at the dark brown colored wolf - No, werewolf that stood before the car. "Don't hit it." It's eyes met mine, "Her. It's a her. She wants to help," I somehow knew. I began to unbuckle my seatbelt hurriedly.

"Are you nuts?" He asked with a hand on my arm, making me pause.

"Maybe." With that simple word, I pushed the door open and got out of the car, going to the wolf. "Will you bring me to my sister?"

She tossed her head in the direction of the house and I followed her. She led me into the dilapidated-looking building, through a maze of rooms, until she stopped suddenly. There, on the floor before us, lay the unconscious form of my sister. A gasp tore from my throat as I threw myself across the room to shield her. She may hate me, but she was still my little sister and I didn't want her dead.

There was a darkness to the air as the maniacal laugh sliced throught the silence. Two men, one with brown hair and the other with red, stepped forward. Both were vampires, probably working with Damon's brother. And suddenly, the wolf was there before us, protecting us, dividing them from me and Jenny.

A low growl came from deep within the wolf's throat as it bared its teeth at the men. As one of them chuckled and stepped forward toward me, the wolf also took a step forward, snarling at them, blocking their path to me. A third man, the one with green eyes from my dream, joined them.

"Just knock the thing out and let's get the girl and go," he said from behind them, and subconsciously, I moved in front of my sister's oblivious form. It was then that the man in the back crumpled to the floor, revealing a handsome blond hair man with blue eyes who made my heart thud loudly in my chest standing behind him, the vampire's bloody heart in his hand. The man saw me and his eyes flickered to the floor where my sister was. He stiffened up, looking accusingly from the wolf to Jennifer.

"Doppelganger."

I wouldn't be able to take this man, I knew, but I could sure hold him back, if only for a short while. I was strong enough for that, as long as I didn't get a vision. And Damon, he was right by my side now. He knew that my mother was the doppelganger and I guess if I showed my strength, he'd just figure that the rest of me wasn't human. And the wolf was on our side, I think... I hope.

The wolf stared down the man and I did the only thing I could. I pulled the vial of blood from my coat and knelt before my sister, poured about half of it into Jennifer's mouth, and then tilted her head forward so it went down. Finally, I turned to the men. "Another step closer and I'll turn her. That's vampire blood I just gave her. She'll die the same anyone else will."

The green-eyed man looked back at me, then at the wolf. "Incredible, a werewolf is protecting you. Let me guess, you work for Klaus?" he asked me.

A snort came from the far side of the room, and all eyes - save the wolf's, whose eyes were trained on the green-eyed man - turned to look at him.

"Klaus," Damon hissed.

"If she worked for me, the world would be ending. She listens to what I say about as much as Rebekah does." The wolf made some sort of barking laughing sound at that. "Correction, less than Rebekah does."

"Well, well, looky what we have here," a voice, so familiar came from above in the balcony. I turned and looked, for the first time in my life, into the face of Katherine. "How are you doing, Stefan? Heard you went psycho. Didn't think it was this bad. Got news for you," she paused, considering her next words carefully, "Back off. You're way out of your league now."

"You're working with Klaus?" Damon laughed at this in disbelief, "Oh, things must be bad. Did you compel her? Make her follow your every wish?" Klaus rolled his eyes, turning to me.

"Take your sister and go," he commanded and I felt oddly obedient. Perhaps it was the stories I heard about both Klaus and Stefan, their reputations far outweighing than anything I could do. I didn't slaughter towns or kill children. I was hardly more than a child myself.

Still asleep, I found my sister to be much more compliant as I lifted her onto my shoulders, running as fast as I could to Damon's car. The green-eyed man made a move, but the wolf blocked his path, fangs bared. And that's when I knew. The wolf wasn't just a werewolf, but a hybrid, just like the Original across the room. Damon was taking her from my shoulders once he appeared behind me, speeding them to the car. Then I headed for the woods and started running.

The first time I had ever had a vision, it was painful. Head splitting open, mind numbing, and it felt like something was killing me from the inside out. I was better now at sensing when they were coming. I could feel this one from the inside out, could feel everything as if the thing were attacking me. I hated it.

I could hear this noise. It was a terrible sound, really, high pitched and squealing. The longer I heard it, the more sense it made. The noise became whispers and voices in a language I couldn't understand but had once known. I waited for the tell-tale flash, that surge of light that would cover my vision, but it wasn't coming... and then... all I could feel was pain.


	5. Chapter 4- Elena

Stefan knew he was out numbered. He ran away as soon as he saw that his  _brother_  was no longer compelled and no longer on his side. My dead heart stopped for a moment as I saw the  _man_  I had spent the better part of two decades pining over, the love of my life. And there he was, standing beside our daughter who was guarding her sister so carefully. It was a beautiful sight. It made me want to cry.

I changed back into my normal, human form and was thankful that Katherine had brought clothes for me. Watching someone who looked so much like you speaking to the man you know both you and her have slept with at some point during his long reign of eternity was a little surreal. Upon my re-entrance into the room, Klaus turned to me.

A smirk came to his features, one that made me uneasy, but I held my ground. "I didn't know you had children, Elena." My eyes dropped to the floor for a split second.

"Would you have gone after them?"

This made him pause. After many minutes had gone by, he finally replied. "No. I don't need an army of hybrids anymore. I have a family now."

"Let me take a guess," Katherine's voice came as she casually leaned back against the wall, "Damon is the father. One of them looked just like him, and from what I saw the other day, just as cocky." Her voice was teasing, a smile playing on her lips. "So, let's hear their names. Or did you give them up for adoption?" I scoffed at that. "Well, where have they been for the past years?"

"With Isobel's parents," I shot out.

"Did anyone even know about them?" she asked, "Or are you trying to pretend you're Isobel and hide the truth?" I rolled my eyes.

"Ash and Danny knew. Besides, when has it ever come up in a conversation, 'Elena, do you have children, especially one that is a doppelganger?'" Klaus rolled his eyes, taking a seat on a window sill that no longer had a window.

"You doppelgangers are by far the most annoying creatures to have ever cursed this Earth," he mumbled under his breath, knowing well that everyone in the room had superhuman hearing.

"We know," My ancestor answered, "So, names..." she prompted, "I'm curious."

"Oh no, Katherine's feeling maternal," I muttered, "Isobelle and Jennifer."

"Really?" I nodded. "Middle names?"

"Isobelle Alexia Rosemarie and Jennifer Miranda." She shrugged.

"Guess you've got to be dead to get your name in there."

"Wouldn't give you the satisfaction of naming anyone after you," I shot back.

"Pssh!" she laughed as we left the house and walked through the woods, "You know you want to."

"Yes," Klaus answered for me, "Right after we drive meat cleavers over our necks and white ash stakes through my, Elijah and Bekah's hearts."

"And maybe burn for a little while in Hell first," I quickly added.

* * *

From downstairs, there came a loud groan. "What's wrong with you?" Elijah asked Klaus as the latter stared at a credit card statement. I knew this, because that was the only thing that could make Klaus groan like his wallet was in some serious pain.

"Did I do something recently to make Bekah angry at me?"

"Not that I know of. Why?" Elijah took a look at the credit card statement and gaped. "What did she buy for that price?"

"It can't be that bad," I said under my breath to them, coming up behind them. I looked at the screen. "Europe, maybe, possibly Asia with it?" I suggested.

"Nik! I borrowed your credit card. Hope you don't mind," Rebekah's voice came from the doorway. "How do you like my dress? It's for the upcoming dance at school."

"There's no way," Klaus was muttering in shock.

"What's his problem?"

"Did that dress cost in the area of two billion?" Elijah asked, surprisingly calm in contrast to his hybrid half brother who was going into shock.

"What?" the blonde approached us, looking at the screen. "You do realize that at the end is a period, right? And it says 'house' next to it. Probably has to do with the house you bought that we're standing in right now. And who even charges a house on a credit card anyways?" Finally, Klaus blinked. "My God, you people are idiots!" She stormed out of the room.

"I like your dress!" I called after her.

"Thanks!" her reply came.

* * *

Elijah was sitting in the dining room, the full flames roaring in the fireplace. He was going through some papers, typing something on his laptop, mostly historical stuff. He was planning on writing a book about Mystic Falls history. I took a seat beside him.

"Need some help?" He looked up, glancing in my direction.

"Do you mind going through that pile? I'm looking for something... I just can't find it... something doesn't add up."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "What doesn't?"

"If none of us, save Ashley and Daniel, knew that you had children, how did Stefan?"

Ah, the million dollar question. "Considering I admitted myself to a hospital in Georgia under a false name at that time, I really don't know." He blinked.

"Georgia? But I thought you were in North Carolina at school."

I nodded. "This was just before college started. I had gone to Atlanta because Damon had taken me there once and I remember hoping he'd be at this bar he had taken me to, because he knew the owner. Well, turns out, being knocked out for three-fourth of the trip there and drunk on the way back makes you pretty bad with directions."

Elijah chuckled. "Alright then, but that still doesn't explain how he found out about them?"

"How did Katherine find out I was alive in the first place?"

"How did Katherine do what?" her voice came from the other room as she walked into the dining room that had been turned into Elijah's research room. She slinked across the room and onto her boyfriend's lap. She wrapped her arm around Elijah's neck. "Well, what's the question?"

"How did you find out about Elena?" She shrugged.

"That's easy. I heard about her. People talk. I heard Stefan was back in Mystic Falls, then John contacted Isobel and Isobel found me. But people talk. I heard all sorts of rumors that there was a new doppleganger before Stefan had even come back to Mystic Falls, before Isobel had even found me."

I could see the gears clicking in his head at this. Ashley walked in the room, looking at us curiously. Danny filed in, true to form, silently behind her. We were all quiet as Klaus, Rebekah, and Anthony also came in. Klaus sat down across from his brother, Bekah in the chair next to him, as Ashley gazed inquisitively over Elijah's shoulder.

"The answer's simple," she whispered, color drained from her cheeks, "He was looking for you, so he went where he knew you might have gone. Grove Hill was where Isobel had lived. He knew that. He had people looking out for if you were alive."

"Then how did he never find out before now?" Danny asked, speaking for the first time that I've heard him probably since their wedding. Ashley flushed.

"I put a charm on Elena. I guess I didn't get one up quick enough on the girls. Or maybe he had a scout here in Mystic Falls. It wouldn't be hard to do, especially not if he's got your brothers," she said, addressing the three Originals, "Working with him. Why would a vampire want to put themselves through the torture of drinking vervain every day to make themselves unable to be compelled?" At this, Katherine, Anthony, and my eyebrows went up in sync. "Normal vampires who weren't running for their lives for any length of time, working in a supernatural bar, or were sired by the same person that originally killed them."

Klaus chuckled, and I glanced at him. "What's so funny?"

"I wonder if Stefan has connected the dots with whom your children's father is?"

"Or that it's his, and my, nieces he's trying to kill?" Anthony added in.

Katherine looked up, looking each and every one of us in the eyes. "It won't matter to him." Her voice was dead serious. "He's over the edge. It would take centuries of detox to get him to the point where he's gonna care if he hurts a human. He could very well be gone for good. And I don't know about Finn or Kol all that well, but from what you've said about them, we're fighting a loosing battle. Which means we will need more hybrids if he brings the war here and you will have to make them," she told Klaus, "Want them or not. And your daughter," she said, turning to me, "Is going to be the one who is a human blood bag. I don't care if you don't like it, but we've been dealt a pretty good hand considering our situation. I say we put a round the clock guard on the two girls, Damon too. We don't know what he's going to try."

You know a situation is bad when Klaus and Rebekah are letting Katherine, who they both have spent the better part of the last decade and a half fighting with, take control. We were in a mess and we all knew it.

"I'll contact my witch pals!" Ashley said perkily, trying to lighten the mood. Rebekah smiled weakly.

"Guess it's time to wake the hybrids back, huh?" she smiled cheekily at her brother who nodded, standing up.

"Elena, would you?" I nodded.

"Take care of my girls," I told him, knowing where he was going. I pressed my lips to his cheek in a silent show of gratitude, and went to wake the others.

They were bringing the battle to us, and we would be ready.


	6. Chapter 5- Isobelle

I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to get comfortable. My non-vision vision, filled with blinding lights and pain and those voices, had drained me. I don't think a human was meant to carry these visions. I couldn't handle them. They were too strong for me. They were going to kill me.

Jenny was in her bed on the other side of the bathroom, her friends with her for a sleep over. There was blonde haired, overly perkily and cheery Amy- the human; moody, redheaded Karla- the werewolf; tall, jade-eyed Penelope- witch number one; and brown haired, good-natured Melissa- witch number two. Still, there was something wrong.

I stood from my bed, pulling the curtains back from the side of my bed and headed for the window and sat down on the window seat, looking down and out. And there was the reason I couldn't sleep.

He was handsome, I had to admit that. Still, he scared me. He was an Original... the Original! He had killed my mother at one point. I closed my curtains tight and moved back to the bed. Some way or another, I slipped in and out between the cracks of sleep until I fell over the edge.

* * *

"Today, you will be putting together your timelines on the history of vampires in Mystic Falls," Mr. Alaric Saltzman announced, "And I  _know_  Rebekah will have plenty to say on this topic." From besides the teacher's desk, I watched Caroline Forbes stifle a laugh at that. I turned back to Rebekah. She was smirking smugly.

"I'm sure I could input a little something." Alaric stood up.

"This is a group project, people. It's forty percent of your semester grade and if I see you not participating, then it  _will_  count against you." He pulled up a piece of paper. "First group, Amy, Jennifer, Penelope, and Karla. Second group, Rebekah, Melissa, Isobelle, and Anthony. Third group..." I zoned out after that. I was working with Rebekah, some vamp guy, and one of Jenny's witchy friends on this. "Okay, separate into your groups."

I moved over to Rebekah had moved to sit with Anthony, slipping my coat off and sitting down beside them. Melissa sat down besides Anthony. "So how should we do this?" she asked nervously. My notebook sat on the desk before me as I sketched absentmindedly.

"Well, we should start with drawing a line," the British girl said sarcastically. I chuckled at that.

"Let's start with some dates," Melissa started, "Um... first vamp created in...?"

"The tenth century," Rebekah and I both answered in unison.

"Ok," she wrote that down, "And first vamp in Mystic Falls?"

"Same date," Rebekah responded dryly, "Weren't you paying attention in class? Vampires were created in Mystic Falls."

I glanced at the clock. Class was over almost done. By the time he had finished showing us  _An Instructional History of Vampire_ , which was where we were getting the information for the timeline from. "We'll never be able to finish this all here," I stated.

"My house then, tomorrow, say two thirty?" Rebekah asked. Anthony nodded stoically. She turned to Melissa and I.

"Sure," Melissa answered and I shrugged. Tomorrow was Saturday. Where I went and what I did on a Saturday didn't matter to my grandparents. Heck, they'll probably be downright thrilled that I'll be out of their hair that afternoon. Quickly, she wrote out her address for both of us, handing us each a paper. On the bottom, I could see she had wrote her phone number. I filed it away in the pocket of my coat, folding it over my arm twice so it wouldn't droop on the ground and pulled my backpack on.

I walked out of the school. It was Friday afternoon and the last class of the day and no one was holding me here hostage against my will. I was a free person, and I had business to attend to.

* * *

I walked up to the doorstep and knocked and prayed to the higher beings out there that she would please be home and not Mom's brother. A young girl opened the door. She stared up at me and I felt a patch of tenderness for her. "Is your mom home?" I asked her softly.

She nodded. "Mommy?" she called, "There's a lady at the door for you."

"For the last time," the woman's voice came like the snap of a whip, "We're not interested in buying anything."

I looked up at her from the little girl, into her face. Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "I need help. I hear you're the woman to come to."

She glanced around to see if I had been followed, hissing to her daughter. "Kaitlyn, go to your room and lock your door. Don't open it unless it's me or Daddy, understand?" The little girl nodded and ran up the stairs. "Who are you?"

"My name is Isobelle. I think you can help me, in one way or another. I need a protection charm for my sister... or something for me, something of a nature that I'd rather not discuss out in the open. I promise you, I'm not a vampire." I help out my hand to her and she touched it. I knew she could sense things... every witch could. I had met one before, a long time ago, but didn't need the help then. I did now.

"You have power," she stated in surprise.

"And it's killing me. My body wasn't built to handle it. I need to know it there's a way to get rid of it or make it stop being like this." She nodded, stepping aside, and I walked in through the threshold, unstopped.

"I can make a protection charm easy. Your... interesting situation... it might take some time. Take a seat." She motioned to the dining room table and I sat down.

"Thank you for doing this." She nodded, but said nothing else.

* * *

It was two twenty when I walked up to Rebekah's house, or should I say "mansion", the next day. I knocked on the door, waiting for her to answer. I saw the car in the driveway and figured that one of my other group members was here already, waiting inside the monstrous house, probably lost, because any house this big had to be a labyrinth. One of the large doors opened up, only to reveal the hybrid known to the world as Klaus. The gears in my head clicked as they worked out everything. It made sense now. Rebekah was  _that_  Rebekah, one of the Originals vampires of this species of vampires, the magic-created kind, not the Alpha-created kind. I mean, I knew she was a vampire, but for some reason, I had never connected the dots.

"Are you everywhere?" I grumbled, pushing past him, not even waiting to be let in. "Do you stalk us or do you just like sitting outside of human girls windows at night, following them around town during the day, and showing up in places they don't expect the rest of the time?"

He closed the door, looking at me completely amused. I wanted to wipe that stupid smug smirk off his face. "Aw... did someone have a bad day?"

"Someone is about to have a really good day when someone lops your head off." I got up in his face. "I don't have any disillusions about who you are. Don't think you can fool me the way you and your family fools the rest of the world."

His brow furrowed before he spoke doubtfully, "Me?"

"Yes, you. I know exactly what you are. A murderer, a hybrid. If it weren't for you, I might have had a normal childhood. But God forbid I actually be loved by anyone, cause that's where you came into the picture. You and your godforsaken desire to build up your little hybrid freak army."

He had the audacity to look confused. "I'm not sure I follow."

"You took my mother away from me. I can't even blame her because if she wasn't so terrified of you in the first place that she had to send us away, maybe things might have been able to past for normal. And I'm not going to let you touch a hair on my sister's head if I have to chop down every tree in the forest to find a white oak to shove through the middle of you and your family."

At this, a look of recognition came across his face. "Ah! Well, I think there's been a misunderstanding. You see, we're on the same side. And I wasn't the reason that your mother hid your sister and you. Stefan, that man from the other day w-"

"I know who Stefan is," I snapped at him.

"He's the one trying to get your sister." I raised my eyebrow.

"Yes, because I so believe the guy who somehow knows where we live and was standing outside our windows last night and the night before that." I heard a voice come upstairs, or should I say, a voice was coming from up the grand staircase that was in the middle of the huge room that could have easily doubled as a ballroom. Rebekah appeared a moment later.

"Isobelle, we're working upstairs." She glanced behind me at her brother. "Nik, may I speak to you in the parlor? Now." She gave me a smile. "Go on up. I'll be right there."

I walked began to walk up the stairs, and as I reached the top landing, I could feel myself start to get dizzy. Everything was beginning to blur, like if I had opened my eyes under water, and I grasped onto the railing with a tight grip. I opened my mouth, gasping. The light was blinding. The voices, they were whispering and I could make sense of their words now, in their strange inhuman language that made me feel incredibly homesick. It made me shutter just as an intense throbbing pain went through my head as if it had been speared. Everything faded in from black.

The bright, white light filled my vision... it drowned my senses, overwhelmed me in pain. I could see him, the back of a man, a inhuman figure that seemed radiate and bathed in sheer glory. As he turned, his human face overtook my inner eyes, his blue eyes pierced me with their intensity, his dark hair startled me, but I saw past that. I knew him, he was good, he had helped me kill the vampires, demons in hell...  _No!_  my mind remembered in a panic,  _he was bad!_   _He had killed people I cared about!_  It was only a matter of time before his sword turned on me. He was dead. He should be dead! How was he here? Why was he here? He was going to kill me! He was mad and he was going to kill me! I knew it. He was... he'd...

* * *

Elena

* * *

A scream pierced the air as I stepped inside the house. I immediately became alert, wondering where it came from. Another one... and it was coming from the stairs. I ran. My heart broke as I saw my older daughter, thrashing there, grabbing the rail as she fell and hit her head, eyes wide open, but so unseeing, staring fearfully up at the ceiling above her. She was mumbling nonsense, every other sentence wasn't in English, and what I could make out of her words were, "Get back!", "Get away from me!", and oddly enough, "Revenant!"

"Isobelle, listen to me," I cried in a panic, tried to get her attention. She was gasping and I could hear her heart pounding from her body. Somewhere in me knew that if a person had a head injury, you should keep them awake. "Isobelle... Izzy... please wake up!" She was losing body heat and blood quickly now. I could feel it even through her coat. She was gasping for air and I couldn't think clearly enough to act. Then her heart stopped, her body went slack and I hardly even had time to catch her as she began to fall, and when I laid her on the floor, she wasn't breathing, so I did the only things I could think of. I tore into my wrist, pressing the wound to her lips until they were painted red with blood. Then, with speed that only something superhuman could have, I began compressions.

"Elena, what's going on?" a voice in my ear, a hand on my shoulder, asked.

"Please help her," I begged, near hysterical. I could hear them calling nine-one-one. I could hear the operator pick up, them telling the person that an ambulance would be here in a few minutes.

"Elena, Elena, shhh," a set of arms pulled me back, "Katerina, get her out of here. Get Daniel in here now." Everything was happening around me in a flash. "Rebekah, go distract the other girl. Klaus, show the EMT's in. Anthony, go with Katerina and Elena. Get her calmed down." I was vaguely aware that is was Elijah doing the ordering. I could see Danny leaning over my daughter's lifeless body, doing CPR and using one of those defibrillators, before Katherine and Anthony pulled me away from where they were, into one of the rooms.

"Elena, you need to get a grip, now!" she yelled at me, "This won't help her."

"What if it were your daughter?" I snapped back. She recoiled, as if wounded, but I knew better. Katherine wasn't so easily hurt. But then I saw the pain in her eyes.

"I'm going to go get you some blood. Anthony, stay with her." With that, she left the room.

"Can you go get me a wet rag for my face?" I asked him a moment later when I could think clearer. Wordlessly, he nodded, going to the adjoining bathroom, but by the time he got back, I was gone.

* * *

It had been years since I had last set foot in the Salvatore boarding house. Right now, it was lit up fairly well, and when I stepped inside, I could already tell that  _he_ was home.  _His_  room didn't look any different from the last time I was in here, so long ago, with  _him_. I could hear the shower running and I knew that it would be a matter of minutes before  _he_  emerged from the bathroom.

 _He_  hardly acknowledged me. "Katherine... get out," he said,  _his_  voice cold, but I could have gaped and drowned from the feelings of hearing his voice again. I had forgotten what it sounded like... or how blue his eyes were.

"Wrong, guess again," I replied with more confidence than I had a moment before.

Damon spun around so quickly that I hadn't seen him move. He stared at my face, studying me, as if committing my face to memory. "Elena..." he gasped.

"Hi." I wanted to smack myself in the head. Really Elena, I thought, 'hi'? That's the best you could come up with. You've waited to see this man again for almost two decades and all you can say is 'hi'?

"You're alive." He was staring at me like I was the Holy Grail or something of equal or greater value. It unnerved me. I wasn't used to it.

"Yeah," I replied, almost awkwardly, "It's been a long time."

"You look the same." He frowned at his words. "Well, not the same. Older, but not much older. Only a few years older. How? I mean, I heard rumors, but everyone thought you were dead. Everyone in this town has said the same thing, that your roommate came and said you were dead."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty sure she told them that they, whoever they are, said 'it was a pretty good chance that they would never find her body.'"

"What?" He stared at me, confused and unsure of what I was saying.

"Ashley's smart and very good at wording things. Everything that's happened since I turned has been well planned out and carefully formulated before it gets acted upon, although there have been exceptions. But for any of us to make a difference, I needed to be dead to the world."

"There's these two girls. They-"

"I know," I cut him off, "They are my daughters." I risked looking up at him for a second before bowing my head. "They're yours too."

"What?" He shook his head, denying it. "That's impossible."

"We live in Mystic Falls, Damon. Impossible things are happening every day. Like my turning out to be a hybrid when that idiot left the room. You don't leave a girl who's on suicide watch by herself with hospital wires where she could do some damage to her trachea, enough to the point where she could die. But nope, let's leave her alone so she'll do exactly that because we're  _so_  much smarter than the rest of the world."

He stared at me in disbelief. " _Klaus_  was the one to turn you?"

"Uh... yeah. But it was an accident... sort of."

"You were the wolf the other day." I blinked, cocking my head at him, and watched him pace. "The one standing between Iso- your daughters and Stefan."

"Our daughters," I corrected him. It seemed natural to say 'our', but he was rejecting the idea, probably because he went for well over a hundred years thinking he could never have a child. "Their ours, Damon, whether you believe me or not. But before you go rejecting the idea that you were able to give me children so quickly, have you actually looked at Isobelle? Your hair, your eyes, heck, she even has your nose."

He frowned at my words, walking back to the bathroom to look in the mirror for several minutes, studying his nose. "We live in a weird world," I heard him mutter from the other room. He stepped up to the bed, where I was sitting, as he reentered the room. "Do they know?" The words were breathy. I shook my head. I had never had the heart to tell them that their father had disappeared and was possibly dead. "Can I tell them?" I giggled at his expression. He looked pleased with himself and it seemed like not a day had passed since we were next to each other, whispering sweet declarations of love while he held me close. "Elena..."

I all but jumped up at him. For that moment, despite the earlier events of today, despite the fact that our daughter was dying in a hospital bed, everything was perfect.


	7. Chapter 6- Isobelle

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

"No!" I groaned, shifting in the uncomfortable bed, squinting against the light. I hated hospitals with a burning passion. I hated the cold, sterile smell that these places seemed to emit. I hated the loud, constant beeping that wouldn't shut off. I pushed myself upward, reaching for my hand that had the IV and the other wires tapped to it and began to try to undo them.

"Stop that, Isobelle." The voice was a half growl as he separated my hand from the other. I looked up towards the sound and screamed, pushing him back with all my strength.

"Your face! What happened to your face?" It almost looked like the face of a demon. It was terrifying. I had never noticed before, but it was all twisted and bloodied and mutilated. Every vein was on the surface and the white part of his eyes were red. And he was furry, very furry in a 'I haven't shaved since ever' sort of way. If he was going for a Wolfman-meets-Hollywood-horror-makeup, he had it nailed.

The hybrid stared at me confused as a nurse ran in. "Sweetie, what is it? What's wrong?" I blinked and his human face was back in place. "Are you experiencing any confusion? What's the last thing you remember?"

"Why the hell am I in here?" I demanded from her.

"Experiencing confusion," she jotted down on her clip board.

"I'm not experiencing any damn confusion. I was walking up the stairs and got a migraine. I know that. I want to know what happened after I passed out and who's brilliant idea it was to bring me here?"

"Isobelle-" Klaus began, but was silenced by a hard glare from me.

"Sweetie, just take it easy. It's alright if you don't remember. Just take it easy. I'm going to put some more-"

"Don't you dare drug me. I just want to know what's going on here." I was embarrassed to admit that my voice had taken on a hysterical quality to it.

"Isobelle," Klaus started again, but this time I let him talk. "When you came in, you weren't breathing. They found a subarachnoid hemorrhage in your brain."

"What?" Is that what my visions did to me? I had no idea what the first word meant, but hemorrhage, I knew what that was. It was where a blood vessel had ruptured. Whatever a subarachnoid hemorrhage was, it didn't sound too good at all. "I didn't, I mean I'm not- right?"

"No. They were able to revive you without any vampire blood involved." Klaus frowned at me, almost like he was trying to dissect me, and I ignored the nurse as she moved from the room after inserting the drug into my IV bag. I could feel the drug move into my system, but I couldn't feel it's effect.

"What?"

"You healed incredibly quick, but your blood work shows that you're human."

I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a regular Buffy mixed with an extra shot of awesome." He snorted and I used my psychic powers willingly for probably the first time ever, making his chair move back before he sat down, so he lost balance when he went to sit. I laughed loudly and he glared at me. "Make that two shots of awesome and better balance and reflexes than a thousand-something-year-old hybrid." Finally plopping back hard against the stiff pillow, I groaned. "Kill me now!"

"No, sorry, can't."

"I miss my bed," I muttered. He chuckled. "It's a nice bed. It's got curtains and a headboard and who do I have to kill to get some French fries around here?" He laughed at that. I guess the hospital's diet for me wouldn't allow it.

"We've never formally been introduced, by the way." I shot him a look, one that I would have been chided for, had my grandparents been here. "I'm Niklaus Mikaelson." He held out a hand to me.

"Isobelle." I took his hand, and he pressed his lips to the back of it. If you ignored the fact that he was a dangerous, thousand some-year-old half-werewolf half-vampire, he actually seemed like a pretty decent guy. After all, he had completely distracted me from my vision that had apparently killed me and put me in the hospital. Maybe that's why I asked him, "Can I call you Nik?"

He chuckled and leaned back in the chair. "Don't see why not."

"So how long have I been in here?"

"Just since yesterday." At this, I relaxed. My heart rate was beating far too erratically before, not just at his presence, but also at the being in the hospital to begin with, and he and everyone else on the planet could tell that it was. But at least I hadn't been here long. The thought of being here for weeks without knowing unnerved me more than just being here, so being here for a day calmed my heart rate slightly. I closed my eyes.

I needed to figure out what happened to my visions. Normally, they were painful. They had never been so full on messed up before though. I had never had the pain of having a vision without the actually vision before coming here. Or was that figure and the strange language my vision? This town was killing me.

There came a knock on the door and he walked over to it. "Do you want anything to eat?" I shook my head, and he opened the door, letting the people inside, before he left. I stared at them in shock. There was Damon Salvatore... and although I was surprised he would visit me in the hospital, I was even more blown away by the next person.

It was my mom.

She walked over to the bed quickly, wrapping me up in her arms as she hugged me and fussed. And even though it had been years since I had last saw her, I immediately felt bad for making her worry. "I'm sorry, Mommy," I whimpered into her shoulder as she stroked my hair.

"I'm so sorry too, Izzy," she murmured. "I didn't want to leave you, but I was trying to protect you."

"I know." My eyes moved behind her, to Damon. And in that moment it made sense why he was here with her. He had a look of tenderness in his eyes that he never had before and I now knew why. In those few minutes, everything became clear to me.

Damon Salvatore was my father.

Which also meant that I was a Salvatore.

His brother, my uncle, had tried to hurt my sister.

He didn't know before that he was my father.

I guess he could see the realization in my eyes, because he smiled, nodding slightly, a small smile coming to his lips. I reached a hand out to him, and he held it, sitting down besides Mom and me on the bed and hugging us both. It was the first time in my life that I ever felt like I belonged. It was also the first time I remember feeling like I mattered, like I was somebody.

"So what's the last thing you remember?" Mom finally asked.

"I... um... a lot."

"How long have you had seizures?"

"She didn't have a seizure," Damon snapped, then looked at me, "did you?" I shook my head.

"Then what was it?" Mom turned her heavy, questioning gaze on him. He glanced back to me, then back to her.

I shrugged. They may be my parents, but I hadn't really met them before today. I was entitled to my secrets, especially from people trying to do the right thing. God save us from people with good intentions.

They smiled and Mom kissed my forehead as she left. Damon- Dad- tucked back a strand of my hair and paused, as if deciding something, then leaned over and pressed his lips to my forehead. "Get some rest." I nodded, laying back in the hospital bed, feeling more relaxed than I had in days. I may not have known what was wrong with me, but I was going to be okay. I was a Salvatore and a survivor.

* * *

The squares were made from ivory and ebony and there were ornate decorations carved into the heavy mahogany sides of the board. Each piece was carved by hand, each one unique. The board and each piece was heavy.

With a careful hand, I lifted the piece, carefully, moving it a few spaces over. "Check."

Nik frowned, "That's a good move." He went to move a piece, then faltered. "That's really good move. Why couldn't you be as bad as your mother at chess?"

"What can I say? I inherited my father's good looks, his brains, his style and charm, and his unflinching ability to listen to my sister talk on the phone and her playing Taylor Swift. Over and over and over."

"That sounds like something he would say." He used his queen to take my knight that was about to take his king.

"Don't I know it." Effortlessly, I knocked the piece over and he flinched.

"Careful there, 'Belle. This is a twelfth century chess set."

I snorted. "And you are a ninth century guy. Will you bruise so easy if I knock you over?"

He smirked up at me, despite the fact that we were sitting at the same level. "I'm slightly more sturdy." My breath hitched for a moment and I looked down, focusing on the game.

"I know that you know that I know that that can't be the whole truth." He flinched. "What?"

"Did you really just use the word 'know' three times in the same sentence?" I offered him a small smile.

"Maybe. Why?" Straightening in the bed, I looked down at him, "Does that bother you?"

"Immensely."

A smirk came across my face as I filled away this information for later encounters. "You should know that I know that you know that I will use the word 'know' now on random occasion because I know it bothers you that I like using the word 'know.'" He stared straight at me, unblinking.

"Did you have to map that sentence out before saying that, or is that just a general Salvatore quality of knowing how to get on my nerves?" The smirk grew larger. Realizing what he said, he scowled, "That doesn't count, Isobelle."

"Whatever you say, oh Original Hybrid Freak Lord Supreme." He looked at me for a moment like he was going to saying something, but decided again it, shaking his head as if to shake out the thoughts.

* * *

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Uncle! Uncle!" I screamed out as Nik twisted my arms behind my back, bending me in ways I didn't even know I could bend.

"You okay?" His face showed concern and I knew that he never would hurt me on purpose. In response, I gave him a nodded, falling into a chair near where we had cleared his room to spar. He sat on the same chair, nudging me to move over, despite the other places to sit, like the giant couch, in the room.

We had become close over the last few weeks, both of us freaks among freaks. I curled into him. His closeness brought me a peace and comfort that I hadn't known since I was little. It soothed that restless edge we were both on, just standing by, idly waiting for Stefan to do something... anything.

Things stayed quiet. Way too freakishly quiet for normal. It hadn't been this quiet in weeks, not with Stefan hovering, ready to take my sister. It made me more alert, if anything, looking for something wrong, forcing me to jump at shadows.

* * *

My bedroom would have looked normal to the untrained eyes. The dark blue dress I first admired hung from the closet door, a gift from my mother for the dance. Devil's traps were on the ceiling in clear paint.

I had been asleep, with the curtains drawn around my bed at night, which I preferred to being out in the open because it gave me some comfort. Suddenly, I felt the bed shift. It took everything I had to calm my pounding heart and not move, other than the hand that slide under my pillow to grab the silver knife that lay underneath it. I squeezed my eyes shut, letting my other senses take over. There was a musky scent in the air, something familiar. I unclenched the fingers with the knife and turned to see Nik sitting against my headboard, laying beside me, sketching.

"Holy cow! You scared me!" He raised his eyebrow, not looking up. Of course he knew he had scared me; he had heard my heart pounding about a thousand miles an hour. It still was beating fast, but for different reasons. "And you woke me up," I muttered pettily.

At this, he did look up, pushing the curtain back to set the book down on the nightstand, before he shifted so he was facing me eye to eye. "You weren't sleeping that well before that. You sounded like you were in pain. I was going to keep an eye on you, make sure something wasn't attacking you in your dreams."

"How?" He shrugged.

"I'm old. I know a few tricks." It vaguely registered in the back my mind that Niklaus Mikaelson, one of the oldest vampires alive and the oldest hybrid in existence, had been worried about me. The rest of me was too tired. That was the part of me that moved closer to him as he stretched his arm out and laid my head on his chest. His arms came around me, encasing me in a warmth that was strange for a vampire.

"Thank you," I murmured.

I could sort of feel him smile, his lips brush in my hair like a butterfly's kiss. Other than that, he stayed silent. As I feel back to sleep, it was the most peaceful one I had in months. On the verge of unconsciousness, I heard it, "' _And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest_.'"

* * *

When I woke up the next time, it was because there was someone standing over me. I could feel Nik, still beneath me as my pillow, his breaths even. My eyes snapped open to look up at the person.

"Oh my God!" Jennifer gasped, her eyes looked like they were about to just fall out of her head. With the reflexes of a cat, I sprung from the bed, clamping my hand tightly over her mouth.

"Not a word," I hissed, pulling her from the room. I didn't want to wake the hybrid. Chances were, he probably wasn't a morning person. In the safety of the bathroom, I closed the door and released her mouth.

"How the hell did you get a guy that looks like that to-" she cut herself off, the smirk that came to her face both devious and evil, "You're going to be in so much trouble."

It was at that moment, Nik appeared behind her. As my eyes met his, she turned, facing him, and gasped. He looked down at my sister and spoke, "You will not remember this. You will go downstairs and continue your normal morning routine."

It was then I noticed her necklace was not on, the one that I had filled with vervain and sealed shut. She left, dazed and oblivious to us. The moment her footsteps echoed loudly on the stairs, Nik moved. With sudden determination, the hybrid crossed the bathroom and pulled me flush against him, pressing his lips to mine. When we parted, I could see the pain in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"Stefan, his army is here. Tomorrow at sunset is when he's said will be his big battle. If we don't fight them then, he's going to first slaughter the town, then the rest of the world."


	8. Chapter 7- Isobelle

The day was spent, after Nik's announcement, like this: filling in Bonnie Bennett-Gilbert and Ashley FitzGerald-Richardson, a powerful witch from where Jenny and I's fake last names had come from, on the situation; sharpening weapons; training; whittling stakes; ingesting monumental amounts of vervain and pouring equal amounts into the town's water supply; convincing the Sheriff Forbes to order a mandatory curfew for the next few months; talking to Tyler Lockwood to get Caroline to help us fight; and making battle strategies.

My day, on the other hand, was spent going back to sleep. Or at least, that had been my intention. The colors and brightness overtook me. The pain pounded against my skull. My brain throbbed as everything exploded in a flash of light.

There was a portal, my sister's bloodied body hanging over the alter, a rogue witch using her power to open it. The portal was swallowing our world, destroying it, blocking out the sun so the world was in perpetual darkness. Me, future vision me, running towards the vortex, stopping before it, slamming my hand onto a tree that sent a wave of white light over and blinding bursts of brightness washing over the ground. The portal disappearing. Dad killing the witch and getting Jenny. Nik killing Stefan. The others slaughtering Stefan's army. Ashley and Bonnie's spell going into effect. Me, broken and limp, laying on a ring of dead grass. Nik, shaking me, desperately feeding me his blood. No response. My hybrid angry, devastated, in pain. Mom sobbing, clutching at Dad and Jenny. Rebekah in shock.

I sat up with a start, unable to handle watching my own death. But was I going to sit around and cry about it? No. A part of me had always know that I'd die young. So I needed to make sure things were going to be okay, that my sister was safe, that Nik wouldn't go off on a bloodthirsty vengeance after we saved the world.

A knock came from my bedpost and I turned to face the sound, pulling the curtain open on my bed. "Come in."

Nik gave me a half smile, sitting down on my bed. "You okay? You look a bit pale."

I nodded, leaning back against the headboard. "Just a vision. Nothing much."

"About?"

"Tomorrow. They're going to try to open a portal to kind of make it so the sun doesn't shine. It'll still be there, but it'll be like an eternal night for the whole planet." He nodded slowly.

"Well, let's worry about tomorrow tomorrow." I wondered if he noticed the smile I gave him was a weak one. I guess not. He was too busy studying my face, committing it to memory. He said to me in a soft tone, taking a strand of my hair a playing with it, "Lovely."

"When I die," the words escaped from my mouth suddenly, "I want to be buried in a field." I shuttered, "Cemeteries are creepy." It was true. As a hunter, I had had more than my share of cemeteries to last me a lifetime.

"Don't talk like that." I rolled my eyes.

"Face it, Nik, I'm human... mortal. One day, I will die. When that day happens, promise me you won't try to bring me back. Swear it on something important to you."

He closed his eyes, sighing long and loud. When he finally looked up at me again, he looked right into my eyes. "I swear on your life that I won't try to bring you back if and when you die."

"I'm not going to become a vampire."

"But-" He looked heartbroken as he paused, "You wouldn't consider, even for me?"

I pressed my lips against his, slow and soft. The kiss was so tender that I thought I might begin to cry, but I blinked back tears and looked up at him. "I love you." His mouth opened, going to speak, but I silenced him with a fingertip before continuing, "Something in my gut tells me it wouldn't work. Even if I tried to become a vampire, I feel like there's something that would either change be back into a human or kill me completely. I don't want to tempt fate like that."

He swallowed hard, blinking back tears, and nodded. "Let's go over to my house, that way we're all in one place. It's like a fortress there at least."

I nodded, packing a small bag: a change of clothes, my sketch book and journal, and a picture of Nik and I when we attempted to bake. Mom had walked in on us when she smelt a cake burning and had snapped the shot of us covered in flour, eggs, and frosting. Despite never acting on our feelings before, the awareness and the tension had always been there. We hadn't needed to kiss or say the words to know. The closeness we shared, a touch or a look, spoke so much louder. But I had wanted him to hear them once, just once, before I died.

We clung to each other that night, holding each other close, both of us finding it hard to sleep and harder to stay awake. I fell in and out of consciousness, savoring the time we had left together. "I love you too, Belle," I heard Nik whisper at one point. "I love you. Don't you dare die on me out there."

I wanted to sob at that because I couldn't tell him the truth, but I didn't make a sound. Instead, I fell to sleep.

* * *

When he finally let me out of his sight, I scoured threw every nook and cranny in the room for Nik's sketchbook. I wanted to be able to offer him some comfort from beyond the grave. Pulling a piece of stationary from the small desk's drawer, I began to write. I told him all the things I couldn't say just yet. Today was going to be hard enough as it was for all of us. However, when everyone else was wish each other luck, I'd be saying my goodbyes.

_Today's the day._

I looked up, searching for the voice, but no one was there. Shrugging, I got back to writing.

_She accepts death well._

_How is it she getting a warning?_

"Who's talking?" I half sung, half hissed.

_She can hear us? But humans can't-_

_Anna could._

_Ananchel was once an angel. Her lack of Grace, though unfortunate, did not change that she was an angel._

_It did in Heaven._

_You under think things, Castiel. Not everything's as simple as you seem to think._

_This is._

_How?_

_Because God commanded it._

_But God is dead._

_No, he's not. He brought me back when I should be dead. Over and over, he has forgiven me. We may be his children, but for creatures of faith, I find most surprisingly faithless._

Angels? God? Castiel? Ananchel or Anna? Grace? Faith? God? The voices were angels? I could hear angels? Was that even possible? Were they the ones that sent me my visions?

Before I could panic over that, I finished writing, signed off the letter, and stuck it in the back of the sketchbook, just as someone downstairs called out my name. Hiding the book back where it belonged, I ran down to find out what I was needed for.

* * *

"So is everyone good? Everyone understands the plan?" Nik asked everyone. We were sitting in the theater. Yes, my sort of boyfriend has a movie theater in his house. He and Mom, who was his second in command of the hybrids, were giving the orders and instructions for this evening.

Thanks to my vision, we knew the ritual had to take place exactly as the sun set in order to work. They just didn't know about the plan B in case we didn't get there in time or couldn't prevent the ritual.

The hybrids were wishing each other luck, as were the humans, the normal vampires, and a few of Tyler's werewolf friends that Nik hadn't turned. I walked up to my parents, hugging both of them tightly.

"What's that for?" Dad asked with a raised brow.

"Luck?"

Next, I hugged Rebekah, told her to 'be careful'. She rolled her eyes at that. Tyler gave me a smile and a nod from where he stood with Caroline. He and I had been sparring, working ourselves to get better. Finally, I settled back next to Nik. He captured my lips in a passion filled kiss. He pulled something out of his pocket and took my hand, siding a ring on my finger. It was gold with a small blue stone in the middle of the octagon.

"I had it resized for you, since I don't need it anymore." He looked into my eyes. "Are you sure you don't want any of my blood, just in case?"

I sighed, quiet. "I'm sorry," I whispered in return, pressing my lips against his. "Still love me?"

"Always." My arms wound around his neck, his around me, holding me tight to him as I laid my head in the crook of his neck.

"I love you." I could head him swallow.

"So what are we going to do?" Mom asked, her voice breaking us apart.

"Kick it in the ass!" I yelled in reply, throwing my fist in the air. There were some laughs and chuckles at my remark and for that, I was grateful.

"That's my girl." I blushed at Nik's remark, squeezing his hand in one last silent 'love you'. He gave me a smile. It was probably the last one I'd ever see.

* * *

We were too late. The witch, who Nik, Rebekah, and Elijah had shockingly identified as 'Mother', was holding Jenny over her alter, the doppelganger's blood dripping into a bowl. It was my worst nightmare come true. I hadn't seen this, hadn't thought of it, and had failed to protect Jenny. I had only minutes left now.

The portal, a black swirling vortex, was opening, beginning to swallow the world. I glanced back for only a moment at my family, at my sister, at my lover. If I hesitated for too long, it might not work. I took off running.

"No!" Nik yelled the moment he realized what I was doing, but he was too late to stop me.

At last second, I stopped, turning to the tree the witch was beside. It would cancel out the portal, just like it had in my vision, wouldn't it? The tree was tall and old, no, not old, just full of energy and life. With newfound determination, I reached out and slapped a hand on the trunk. A rush went through me of something pure, something burning and bright and safe. I could feel it's energy, crackling and shifting to flow through me, into me. It took and it was the worst pain I could ever imagine. Its energy, no, my energy, my power, my  _Grace_  flowed out of my weak vessel's eyes and mouth, spreading out before it subsided inside of me.

"Close your eyes!" I could barely get out of my mouth before it shot out, extending beyond my human body, before all I could see was white. My eyes tried to shut against the brightness, but I found they refused. The pain subsided, the atmosphere changed, and it felt like home.

And then I was there on my own two feet, my duster swirling in the nonexistent winds of Heaven. There was a dark haired man with bright cerulean eyes standing beside me in his suit and tan trench coat. We were in a park, an autistic man's lazy Tuesday afternoon. Everything was quiet, but Heaven was hardly at peace. For the first time in a long time, my mind was completely clear. "Hello Castiel."

The angel nodded to me in greeting. "Hello... sister. Welcome home."

* * *

3rd person

* * *

Opening his eyes once the light subsided, Klaus cried out in a rage, yanking out the man's heart who had taken his Isobelle away from him. The portal shut as the two white witches' spell took hold in this world. Damon broke Esther's neck and the witch crumpled to the ground, lifeless, her eyes bleeding and completely burnt out. The fighting began to settle down as the vampires in Stefan's army lost ranks, confused by the death of their commander.

There was a soft plop and a thud as the portal closed completely. On a ring of brown, burnt grass was the broken, limp sark haired girl with the pale skin and empty blue eyes, facing up at the heavens. Klaus fell to his knees beside her body, shaking her desperately. He tore into his wrist, forcing his blood down her through.

Elena sobbed, clinging tightly to Damon and Jennifer, who looked up at the two of them confused, not quite sure what was going on at the moment. Rebekah looked like she might faint, and so Anthony held her up.

"Wake up, dammit!" Klaus screamed at the body, "You can't do this to me!" His body shook, betraying his anger for what it really was, "You can't leave me..."


	9. Epilogue- 3rd Person

Things hadn't been this quiet since before the Salvatores first came to town, all those years ago when Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were in high school and normal teenage girls on the cheer squad. For a town where a major percentage of it's population was vampires, there were few deaths in those days.

Jennifer went to school, ignoring all remarks of how sorry people were for her loss. She felt bad now, knowing that her sister had been protecting her all these years. The guilt weighted heavy on her mind and she found herself spending the afternoons away from her friends and more in the cemeteries, despite how Isobelle had always proclaimed loudly that the graveyards freaked her out. She could remember that despite the cloud of darkness that seemed to hang over Izzy at all times, her sister loved few things more than the sunshine on her skin, open sky and land for miles in every direction, and, of course, her art work.

Klaus had disappeared a few hours after the morticians began to prepare his dead love's body. In the nights after her death and before her funeral, you could hear one lone wolf howling to the new moon.

For Elena and Damon, the death of their elder daughter seemed to link them together in ways that seemed more permeant than marriage.

* * *

"I wondered if I would find you here," came a voice from the doorway. Klaus turned with a start, looking up at the person who spoke, his tie hanging from around his neck. His hands were shaking too badly to knot it correctly.

Elena approached him, dressed in a plain black dress and heels. "I didn't think anyone would be here. The church service-"

"I couldn't stay there," she admitted, "It just makes it too real. I remember her being born like it was only a few days ago and now she's dead and-" She broke off, her voice cracking.

"Parents shouldn't have to bury their children," he nodded understandingly. "But when you have an eternity, chances are you're going to bury someone you love."

"'Better to have loved and lost than to never love at all?'" Elena quoted and he let out a deep breath, looking a little like he was going to fall over, and he steadied himself against the back of his chair.

"She knew it," Klaus muttered. "She knew that she would die there and she went anyways."

Elena's brow furrowed. "She knew? How do you know that she-?"

"She had a vision the day before and I'll bet you anything that's what it was about, because then she started going on about how she was going to die one day because she was mortal and-"

"And what?"

"We couldn't try to bring her back, because she didn't want to be brought back." Elena started to protest, but he looked up at her. "I guess that sort of makes sense though. You know, she made me sit through every episode of  _Buffy_  with her and the one thing she complained endlessly about was how miserable Buffy was when she got brought back."

The younger hybrid nodded. As Klaus began to close in on himself, remembering the moments he shared with her older daughter, she studied him. His tie was hanging loosely and she smiled sadly at that, tying it for him. "The service should be over soon. We should probably-"

He nodded and they left.

* * *

Polished curls framed her lovely face. Her lips had been painted red, despite being pale at the time she had passed. Her eyes were now closed. She was wearing her favorite leather coat over a simple black dress slacks and a plain black top as she lay over the plain white satin. It seemed sacrilegious to them to dress the girl up in a dress, so the slacks were the next best option. Around her neck was the locket her mother had given her all those years ago. On her finger was the Original family's ring that he had sized down for her, so that if she decided to join him in eternity... but she hadn't. She hadn't chosen him. Never had she seemed so far away.

He glanced over to her parents. Elena was huddled into Damon side, her face buried into his neck as she sobbed. Jennifer stood beside her friends, the werewolf and the witchling, who each had an arm wrapped around her in a show of comfort. The young doppelganger refused to cry, not just yet.

Finally, they closed the heavy cover over her ivory skin. She was so still, yet she looked as if she had only gone to sleep. An eternal rest, while the rest of them were doomed to an eternal wake. It seemed somehow fitting in his mind. Together, he and Damon laid the coffin in the ground and Elena cast the first bit of dirt over her elder daughter.

The heavy gray clouds hanging over the funeral seemed appropriate to him, as did the heavy chill that was wrapped around the large, empty field that was only marked by a single grave marker. Tears were in every eye of those who loved her. She was gone. She was really gone. The reality settled in and he couldn't breath anymore. Klaus fell to his knees once the others were gone, crying for her for the first time since her death.

He went home, to draw a picture of her from memory. She must have known that he would, because as he opened his sketchbook, an envelope fell out. He could still smell her on it.

_Dear Nik,_

_I'm not going to put anything stupid there like 'if you're reading this, I'm dead', because you already know that you wouldn't be reading this if I wasn't dead. I would be telling you these things face to face. Also, I know you also thought letter writing was 'an art lost to my generation', like everything else, but not to me. Never to me._

_Right about now, you're probably wondering what the hell is going on. I had a vision before the fight. I know you know that because I told you that. On the off chance you find this and I'm in a coma or something other equally stupid, can you go find whatever higher Power there is out there and bang them on the head a few times and ask them why are they giving me visions of things that are supposed to happen, but don't._

_Anyways, back to my vision, I knew I wasn't going to come out of the fight alive. It'd be a fluke if I did. A really big fluke. But hey, me here, I AM kind of a major fluke to begin with. So you never know, maybe I am alive right now and sitting beside you or in the other room and we can have a good laugh about this then. But it's more likely that I'm six feet under. It stinks. I'm sorry._

_I know you. So please, stop sobbing! It's embarrassing for all of us. Don't pine over me or some equally sappy over-romantic thing that you know if I was alive, I would slap you over the head and kick your butt to kingdom come for doing. You've buried more people than anyone ever should have to in a lifetime. It's unfair, I know, and you didn't have a choice. Just remember that it wasn't your fault that I'm dead. You couldn't save me. No one could. Some things are fated. Maybe us meeting was too._

_Just so you know, I don't regret meeting you. If I was another person, we'd have a long happy life together... like an eternity long. But I'm not. I have a job that needs to get done. Written about in ancient prophecies or whatever my visions were and all that chosen-y stuff. Boy, it's tough being a prophecy girl and all that fun. I'm not complaining. Without me doing this, you guys have zero chance of stopping Stefan. See, before I was afraid, I was terrified to stand up to anyone. It's why I became a hunter in the first place. But I'm not anymore. So this is me, standing up. I'm not sacrificing or being a martyr or any of that, despite what you guys will try to make it out to be. I'm doing this for_ me _and my peace of mind. Because if I live and one of you who I love dies, I'd never forgive myself. See, totally selfish here. But hey, details, right?_

_And I know that you know that I know that you are probably cringing at my overuse of the word 'know'. If you figured out, I'm kind of did that on purpose, you know, to annoy you one last time with it, because I know it will._

_I'm sorry._

_I love you._

_Isobelle_

_P.S. I like lilies._

* * *

In the field, there sat a lone tombstone, with the words inscribed on it:

Isobelle Alexia Rosemarie Salvatore

September 9, 2012- November 12, 2030

Beloved Daughter

Devoted Sister

Pure of soul

She saved all who needed saving.

_If I die young, bury me in satin_

_Lay me down on a bed of roses_

_Sink me in the river at dawn_

_Send me away with the words of a love song_


End file.
